Initial discussions about funding Trump tax cuts via cuts in Medicaid, food stamps, and other safety net programs. I wonder how this will impact the legacy Confederate states that voted heavily for Republicans and make up most of the bottom ten states in the Union. What are its chances of passing?
Trump allies eye overhauling Medicaid, food stamps in tax legislation
Republican leaders, looking for ways to offset the cost of lower taxes, are considering changes to safety net programs for the poor.
President-elect Donald Trump’s economic advisers and congressional Republicans have begun preliminary discussions about making significant changes to Medicaid, food stamps and other federal safety net programs to offset the enormous cost of extending Trump’s 2017 tax cuts next year.
Among the options under discussion by GOP lawmakers and aides are new work requirements and spending caps for the programs, according to seven people familiar with the talks, many of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly. Those conversations have included some economic officials on Trump’s transition team, the people said.
However, concern is high among some Republicans about the political downsides of such cuts, which would affect programs that provide support for at least 70 million low-income Americans, and some people familiar with the talks stressed that discussions are preliminary.
“I don’t think that passing just an extension of tax cuts that shows on paper an increase in the deficit [is] going to be challenging,” said one GOP tax adviser. “But the other side of the coin is, you start to add things to reduce the deficit, and that gets politically more challenging.”
The discussions center on Trump’s 2017 tax bill, which lowered taxes for the vast majority of Americans. Major portions of that law are set to expire at the end of next year, and extending those provisions — as Trump has proposed — would add more than $4 trillion to the already soaring national debt over the next decade, according to congressional bookkeepers. The debt exceeds $36 trillion now. Trump also campaigned on a bevy of new tax cuts — such as ending taxes on tips and overtime — which tack trillions more onto the overall price tag.
